Best Thanksgiving Game Memory

Approaching another Thanksgiving, now as a father of two small children, I cannot help but reflect on the great memories I have from my childhood for this time of year. I grew up in a family with two brothers, one older and one younger and one passion we all shared was football. We played football against our friends and family, we watched our favorite team whenever they were on and read about the games in newspapers and magazines. Football was in our blood especially around Thanksgiving.

I talked with my brothers the other day and asked what if any game stuck out in their memories to see if it matched mine and we all agreed the first great football memory was a game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks in 1980 when the Cowboys defeated the Seahawks 51-7. My memories are vivid for several reasons. First, it was one of the last Thanksgivings we had at my grandparent's house as my grandfather would pass away in the summer of 1982, so it was the next to last Thanksgiving we had with him. Regarding the matchup, as a lifelong Cowboys fan the game was as close to perfect as you could get with a total domination by the Tom Landry led Cowboys.

I was only two so I dont remember it but I can promise you it was being watched by my family. Im going to go out on a limb and say that my parents probably had prepared me for nap time prior to the game so that there would be piece for the game.

The garrett game vs gb. Funny cause I always trusted him as a back up qb. Hc? Not so much.

This game for me -- although I have good and bad memories.

The good -- the Cowboys beat the Packers and I was able to politely but firmly hold my head high at the family dinner surrounded by 95% Packers fans,

The bad -- I had a running multi year debate with a family member that Michael Irvin was the best WR of that great 1988 draft class -- of course he argued it was Sterling Sharpe. We were constantly going back and forth on this topic -- comparing weekly stats, annual stats, etc etc. If anybody remembers Sharpe went off in that game and did his best Michael Jordan playing football impression and had 4 TD receptions and almost had another one. On that day at least there wasn't much I could do other than tip my hat to Sharpe.

The good -- the Cowboys beat the Packers and I was able to politely but firmly hold my head high at the family dinner surrounded by 95% Packers fans,

The bad -- I had a running multi year debate with a family member that Michael Irvin was the best WR of that great 1988 draft class -- of course he argued it was Sterling Sharpe. We were constantly going back and forth on this topic -- comparing weekly stats, annual stats, etc etc. If anybody remembers Sharpe went off in that game and did his best Michael Jordan playing football impression and had 4 TD receptions and almost had another one. On that day at least there wasn't much I could do other than tip my hat to Sharpe.

sterling was a beast..

tie for favorite thanksgiving memory for me.

2009 watching my first thanksgiving game in our new home against the raiders...felix went off.

1984 win against new england.. michael down's best year as a cowboy

least favorites were against denver in 2005 where we let ron dayne loose.

The 1974 Thanksgiving day game against the Redskins. I was at my Aunt's house for dinner that day and I really hated the Redskins back then too. I thought the game was over when Roger when out but when we won on the 50 yard TD pass from Longley to Drew Pearson I had a piece of my Aunt's apple pie to celebrate. To this day I still think she makes the best apple pie.

A close second to me is the 2006 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tony Romo was hot going into that game and then proceeded to throw 5 TD's in a blowout win. My hopes for Tony Romo to be the next great QB peaked on that day. I was sure we had just found the next Tom Brady. Good times. Good times.

Lots of good Thanksgiving Day games and I have attended every single one of them starting in 1966 Dallas vs Cleveland to this upcoming game vs Washington.

I guess if I had to pick one it would be Garrett's Thanksgiving, in large part because GB fans where just giving me hell at Halftime as GB was in control and to watch Dallas come back in the second half and then see cheese heads walking out with their heads hanging low cracked me up. :laugh2:

Probably around 75 or 76 I was just a little kid when I saw the Cowboys on tv for the first time. It was a combination of the field with the giant star, the reset thing the oline used to do and of course the cheerleaders. I was hooked.